DSEi, London -- SELEX Galileo, a Finmeccanica company, has been awarded a contract by Update Development ltd worth around EUR 4.3M (£3.8M) to provide Thermal Sight Systems (TSS) to the Royal Thai Army in support of their Scorpion Light Tank upgrade programme.

The contract, for an initial quantity of 42 TSS systems, will see SELEX Galileo provide the battle-proven Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Weapon Sight (STAWS) fully integrated with assisted-aiming fire control software which will provide the Scorpion with a modern direct fire capability, 24 hours a day under all battlefield conditions.

The contract follows in-country trials of the system with the Royal Thai Army and deliveries will commence in February 2012 with the systems expected to go into service mid 2012. Colin Horner, Head of Campaigns Land ISTAR & Imagers at SELEX Galileo said: “We are delighted that our proposal has been accepted by the Royal Thai Army and look forward to equipping the Scorpion Light Tank with this outstanding capability. The TSS is a cost effective upgrade to legacy vehicles such as the Scorpion and can provide extended direct fire capability to artillery platforms such as 155mm Howitzers.”

“The Surveillance and Target Acquisition Sight (STAWS) which provides the multi-waveband imaging solution is in service with the British Army and other coalition forces on remote weapon stations and other ISTAR assets and is well suited to the Scorpion Light Tank.” added Colin Horner.

The contract is for the first tranche of a three stage upgrade programme with the Royal Thai Army intending to upgrade a number of further vehicles. Successfully winning this contract puts SELEX Galileo in good stead to compete to supply the TSS for further Scorpion Light Tanks.

The complete TSS system comprises the STAWS, a commander’s display and a gunner’s display. Integrated assisted-aiming software can use the laser-sighting capability of the STAWS to automatically elevate the tank’s turret to the correct level based on the range of the target and the ammunition type being used.